


A Winter Chill

by HSavinien



Series: Affection is a Warm Thing [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, Illnesses, Nonbinary Dwarves, Other, Present Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:42:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22377400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HSavinien/pseuds/HSavinien
Summary: Bofur's a little concerned when Nori drops off the face of the earth. A winter flu has knocked out our favorite thief.
Relationships: Bofur/Nori (Tolkien)
Series: Affection is a Warm Thing [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1523030
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	A Winter Chill

Nori goes missing for three days just before midwinter. Bofur doesn’t think much of it, at first, as Nori wanders off sometimes, but after the second day with no little trinkets or treats slipped into (or out of) Bofur’s pockets, it edges into worrisome. Even if Bofur doesn’t see Nori, there’s usually some sign. Bofur heads to Dori’s house looking for information. 

Ori opens the door and looks vastly relieved. “Oh, good. Nori’s being terrible. Maybe you can do something about it.”

“What’s happened?”

“Nori caught some illness from the Men while trading and has decided there’s nothing for it but to perish in a dramatic manner.” Ori looks harried and sweaty, poor mite, with a hair ribbon falling loose and a big dusty patch all down one side of the sweater that’s too big to belong to anyone but Dori.

Bofur chuckles. “Aye, that sounds about right. I’ll see what I can do.” Bofur taps at Nori’s door and gets only a pitiful moan in response.

“Can I come in, love?”

Nori’s voice squawks, “No, you’ll catch the plague and die with me.”

“Come on now, it can’t be so bad as all that.”

Nori grumbles.

“Come on, let me see your face at least.”

“...fine,” Nori grumps.

Bofur pushes the door open and sees nothing but a pile of blankets with a few wisps of ginger poking out of the middle. The room itself is warm; warmer than Dori’s money-worries usually allow for. Ori must be feeding the kitchen fire continually to keep this part of the house so toasty. Nori lets out a hacking cough that shakes the bed, then subsides again with a whimper. 

“Ah, poor love. You got a fever to go along with that cough?”

“Yes.” The blanket pile heaves with misery. 

Bofur pulls a kerchief up to cover mouth and nose, then sits at the head of the bed, feeling around for a hand to pat. Nori relinquishes one. It’s damp and overwarm, but Bofur squeezes it gently and tries not to worry about the weak grasp that Nori returns. 

“Have you been eating?”

Nori coughs violently again and mutters, “Some.”

“I’ll bring you some soup. Bombur’s soup will fix you right up. Tea and honey?”

“Ori brought me some earlier,” Nori says, waving at the side table. The cup is still more than half full and the liquid inside is cold. “Too much.”

“Well, maybe just some hot water with honey.”

Nori grumbles and clings harder to Bofur’s hand. The blankets shift just enough to let Nori peek out and Bofur grins all the more for seeing one bleary brown eye under a riotously disheveled eyebrow.

“All right, not right now.” Bofur strokes Nori’s arm and hums for a second. “You want to hear about all the reasons why we’re stopping work ‘til it warms up?”

Nori makes an affirmative noise and curls closer. Bofur thinks for a moment and starts talking through the miners’ guild’s list of demands that they gave the council earlier this week, explaining why each of them is important. Nori’s grip on Bofur’s hand slackens slowly and, despite another coughing fit, the one visible eye droops shut again. “Boring you to sleep is a perfectly good option,” Bofur tells Nori fondly. “Rest, love. I’ll be back later.”

Bofur moves gently, so as not to disturb the sleeping dwarf, and heads to the kitchen to scrub up with hot water and soap. Ori’s curled up on a kitchen chair, chin on the table, picking listlessly through a bowl of beans to get rid of the bad ones.

“Nori’s a pitiful mess, but I’ll be back with food to help,” Bofur tells Ori. “No reason for you to get stuck on sick-bed duty all alone. Whyn’t you get some biscuits made up to use some of that heat the oven’s putting out? I’ll come back with some soup for all of us.”

Ori nods tiredly. “All right.”

“And when you’ve had a bite, you can get some sleep so you’ll be in shape to go back to your ‘prentice duties tomorrow,” Bofur says gently. “No need for both of us to watch the invalid and I’m available right now.”

“Thank you so much,” Ori says, voice uneven.

“Psh, it’s no trouble to me. You clearly need the sleep and goodness knows Nori’s less likely to bite my head off than a sibling’s.” Bofur pats Ori’s shoulder. “We’ll survive. Nori will complain about it, but we’ll be fine.”

Ori nods. Bofur heads out to beg soup off Bombur. They’ll need all the help that good food can give, but that’s plenty to start with. They’ll all survive.

**Author's Note:**

> For a writing challenge: "winter".


End file.
